The general reluctance to use public policy to confront social concerns has increased over the past 20 years. This document discusses how America arrived at this view of public social policy. Mentoring and after-school programs are examined to help explain specific opportunities and limits likely to make up the social policy climate for early…

This paper focuses on second language (L2) learning through task-based interaction as well as the compatibility of the theories of task-based learning and Vygotsky's sociocultural theory. Language tasks encourage L2 learning by using language as a tool to accomplish a goal. This study analyzes the interaction of first-semester French students…

This paper is a response to Renuka Vithal's paper entitled "Context, Change and Instability", which addresses the theoretical methodological implications resulting from the act of researching associated with social, cultural, and political approaches. Renuka's opinions on the role of educators as intellectuals involved in teacher training, the…

This report explores how sociocultural factors affect reading engagement, literacy learning, and achievement among a diverse group of learners. The report examines previous theory and research on motivation in the area of reading (reading engagement) from a sociocultural perspective. It describes a study that examined the issue of reading…

This bulletin comprises a symposium on Home and Family Life in a Changing Civilization by William John Cooper, United States Commissioner of Education; Karlee E. Lib, professor of commerce, University of Iowa; Arthur J. Todd, professor of sociology, North-Wester University; and William H. Lancelot, head, vocational education department, Iowa State…

Describes the rapid changes occurring in the age and educational distribution of most societies and the resulting mismatching of human resources to the existing needs within the societal structure. Discusses ways society might alter the educational distribution to better conform to societal needs. (Author/DN)

Results of this study suggest that, while Mexican American students were found to come from homes where education was stressed, the students' depressed achievement was found to be related to values and experiences associated with the culture of poverty. (Author/KM)

Presents some tentative cross-cultural and cross-national evidence relating one environmental variable (i.e., climate) to both behavioral and psychocultural processes. (DM)

Suggests the development of school science curricula on the basis of the societal philosophy which is derivable from culture core, or heritage, and present and future society's and individual's needs. (CC)

Presents a case study of student involvement in decision-making at Chicago's Metro High School and proposes a supportive role for research, evaluation, and feedback to strengthen alternative schools within a framework of shared analysis and decision-making. (Editor/GB)

The author argues that disjunction of culture from social structure is not peculiar to affluent capitalism but inherent in the modernization cycle. He suggests a theory of psychocultural modernization. (JB)

In his overall assessment of works on the black family the author concludes that imposition of ethnocentric values on the analysis of black family life preclude application of much of the current research to the development of a viable sociology of the black family. (Author)